


What's In Her Eyes

by EmberCartwright



Series: Tyzula Things [39]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Azula is hurt, F/F, Fire Nation Royal Family, Girlfriends - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Ty Lee will fight for her even if she doesn't want her to, tyzula - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:53:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27843304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmberCartwright/pseuds/EmberCartwright
Summary: Ty Lee notices something wrong with Azula after she takes her out of the asylum but Azula refuses to confide in her. Ty Lee decides to take matters into her own hands because she sees Azula is hurt and she knows she can help her. If only she could figure out the exact problem...
Relationships: Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Series: Tyzula Things [39]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019697
Comments: 11
Kudos: 164





	What's In Her Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> This is sort of a companion to Hold You Close because averiarose suggested an alternate where Azula was the one that was hurt and the idea got stuck in my head

Azula was always practically equally balanced on both sides of her body so it didn’t faze Ty Lee when, after she was released from the asylum, she ate with her left hand and not her right hand.

Ty Lee started to become concerned when it was not just eating but writing, opening doors, brushing her teeth and picking things up. 

No one switches their dominant hand after fifteen years, not even a prodigy like Azula. 

After months went by and Azula continued to use exclusively her left Ty Lee began to conduct experiments. 

Every once in a while she’d toss an object Azula’s right side and the Princess would catch it with her left hand across her body. 

When Ty Lee forced Azula to go on walks with her through the gardens Azula flat out refused to hold Ty Lee’s hand if she was on the right side but acquiesced for the left. 

When their relationship evolved from platonic to romantic everything from small, soft gestures to activities in bed were carried out by Azula’s left hand. 

However, there was never any outward indication that there was something wrong with Azula’s right hand. 

She never complained of pain (not that she would). She never made small unconscious adjustments to it like someone would do with a bad joint. If something required two hands Ty Lee noticed she pretended to use both hands and overcompensated with her left.

“You can tell me anything,” Ty Lee said one night, lying in Azula’s arms. She was painfully aware that Azula’s right hand lay limply on the bed while her left one stroked Ty Lee’s hair. 

“I know,” Azula whispered. 

“I know that you know, but would you actually do it,” Ty Lee asked. 

“Do it?”

“Let me know if something was bothering you,” Ty Lee said. 

“Nothing is bothering me Ty. I’m happy to be here, I’m happy you’re here,” she said. 

“You can be grateful for what you have and still acknowledge if something is wrong,” Ty Lee pressed. 

“What do you want me to say,” Azula said, raising her voice in frustration. 

Ty Lee looked scared. 

“I’m sorry I yelled,” she said sighing. “I’m trying…” she trailed off. 

“Trying what,” Ty Lee said, bravely trying her luck with prying a second time. 

“I’m trying to get past it all,” Azula said slowly. 

“You don’t have to push through it yourself, though,” Ty Lee said. “I can help.”

“I know Ty,” Azula said, kissing her head. “I really appreciate you.”

Ty Lee let the conversation drop for the night. 

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Ty Lee found herself a few steps behind her now girlfriend in the hallway. 

“Wait up ‘Zula,” Ty Lee called as she skipped forward, trying to catch her. 

Ty Lee reached out and grabbed her wrist in an attempt to stop her. Her right wrist. In response Azula flew around and wrenched her hand away. 

In her eyes Ty Lee saw a brief flash of something. Pain? Fear? It was gone too soon to tell.

After the instant of momentary panic Azula regained her composure and brought her hands together in front of her

“Hello Ty,” she said.

Ty Lee studied her girlfriend. 

“What’s wrong with your wrist,” she finally asked. 

“Nothing,” Azula said, cocking her head and lifting her arms, twisting both wrists for Ty Lee to see.

If she was lying about not knowing what Ty Lee meant she was the best liar the acrobat had ever seen. Unfortunately that was the case with Azula. 

“Why did you just freak out like that,” Ty Lee asked.

“I’m a little jumpy. Old habits die hard,” Azula shrugged, maintaining perfect composure. 

What’s going on behind those eyes, Ty Lee thought. Please tell me what’s wrong so I can help, Ty Lee thought. 

“I understand,” is what Ty Lee said. 

She extended her right hand and Azula grabbed it with her left. 

The two girls walked down the hallway together. 

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Ty Lee watched Azula train one morning and secretly spoke to the trainer afterwards.

“Have you noticed anything off about the Princess,” Ty Lee asked him after Azula had disappeared inside. 

The trainer shook his head. 

“The Princess could beat me with one hand tied behind her back and in a blindfold, probably,” he said. 

“Which hand,” Ty Lee asked. 

“What? It’s just an expression,” the trainer said, confused. 

“But, if you were to pick a hand that you think she would fight you without, which one would it be?”

“I’m not too sure, I was too busy dodging her fire blasts to see which hand they were coming from,” he said. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be a trainer,” Ty Lee asked exasperated. 

“She’s the best firebender there’s ever been.”

“I know that,” Ty Lee said, massaging her temples. 

“She doesn’t want a trainer, she needs a punching bag that moves,” he continued. 

“Okay but if you had to say the first thing that came to mind, which hand would you say she was dominant with,” Ty Lee asked. 

“I don’t know. Her left?”

Ty Lee nodded and turned, leaving the trainer behind her. 

If Azula had switched her firebending positions, her wrist problem must be a big deal. Those were moves she’d been perfecting since three years old and could do in her sleep. 

The fact that she could mirror her movements perfectly enough to still be the best was a testament to her skill. 

The fact that she had to do that just set off more alarm bells in Ty Lee’s head. She would get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing she did.

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Azula was lying in the grass on her back watching the clouds as Ty Lee practiced acrobatics around her. 

Azula turned to her side to watch her girlfriend twist, flip and walk around on her hands. 

Ty Lee noticed her watching and walked over.

“You’re so cute ‘Zula,” she said. With one hand she reached up and stroked Azula’s face and with the other she pressed down so that their faces were level and she could kiss her. 

After she pulled back she pressed back up and put her second hand down.

“That was a very impressive feat of strength,” Azula commented, sitting up. 

“Not really,” Ty Lee shrugged, kicking back onto her feet. “I just wanted to give you a kiss!” 

She could see Azula was still caught up on the one handed, upside down push up and saw an opportunity.

“I bet you could do it too,” Ty Lee said. 

Azula’s eyes glimmered with their old competitive spark and she got up in a handstand. 

Ty Lee watched her hand placement and noticed that the grass under her right hand was barely being crushed. It was as if no pressure was being applied. 

Azula lifted her right arm so it was parallel to the grass and executed a perfect one armed pushup. 

Ty Lee clapped excitedly. 

Then to show off, Azula did four more. 

When she was upright again she bowed dramatically and Ty Lee smiled at her. 

“Aren’t you going to do the other side?”

“Why would I do that,” Azula asked. “I already proved that I could do it.”

“You don’t want to become unbalanced,” Ty Lee said cheerily. She had learned that sometimes it was better to hide behind being cute and well meaning because it made it harder for others to see her agenda.

“You only did one side,” Azula said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. It seemed that Azula was not like the others. Ty Lee supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. 

“I didn’t do five of them,” Ty Lee said. 

“Do you really want me to do the other side?” 

Azula asked in an exasperated tone but her eyes presented a challenge and a threat. They warned Ty Lee that if she said yes Azula would do it, disregarding whatever pain it might cause her. 

Ty Lee took an involuntary step back, scared. 

How far was Azula willing to go to present as normal?

She blinked a few times to compose herself.

“A-actually, why don’t we just go inside,” she stuttered, trying to sound as though she just changed her mind on a whim. 

Azula cocked her head for a moment but then just extended her hand to Ty Lee. She took it and they left the gardens.

The mind games with Azula were too intense. Ty Lee realized she would never get a straight answer out of her. She had to dig deeper. 

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

“Thank you for meeting me. I know you are very busy,” Ty Lee said, sipping her tea. 

“It’s no problem. I really appreciate you watching over my sister,” Zuko said. 

“We’re dating, you know,” Ty Lee said pointedly. 

Zuko chuckled. 

“I know. Why shouldn’t a significant other look after the person they love,” Zuko asked, turning his hand up. “I’m not about to thank you for sleeping with my baby sister.” 

Ty Lee blushed but Zuko smiled at her and placed his hand over hers. 

“Seriously though. Nobody saw her until you did and I was too busy and stupid to realize that a kid locked up in an asylum wasn’t going to get better,” he said. 

“Do you think she got worse in there,” Ty Lee asked, getting to the point she’d arranged this whole meeting to bring up. 

“Worse than she was at the end of the war?”

“Not mentally, but physically,” Ty Lee said. 

“Did she say anything? Is she hurt,” he questioned. 

“She hasn’t complained,” Ty Lee said with a sigh, sipping her tea.

“If she hasn’t said anything she’s probably fine and you’re worrying a little too much,” Zuko said, trying to be comforting. 

“I think she is hurt though,” Ty Lee whispered, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.

“Based on what,” Zuko asked.

“Her eyes.”

“Her eyes?”

“Yes. Sometimes I can see in her eyes what she won't or can't say out loud,” Ty Lee said. 

She could see Zuko dismissing the idea in his head before even considering it and she knew this conversation was pointless. 

“It’s Azula. She likes to comment on what’s wrong, loudly and often,” he said in what he thought was a reassuring tone. 

“Not about stuff like this,” Ty Lee said, looking up at him as a tear flowed down her face.

“What do you mean “stuff like this”?”

Ty Lee sighed. 

“You don’t know what it was like for her after you left,” she said. “He would do things to her, terrible things. She never said anything. At a certain point pain wouldn’t even show on her face, only in her eyes.” 

More tears ran down Ty Lee’s face and dropped into her already lukewarm tea. 

Zuko pursed his lips. 

“I can’t help her unless she says anything and you can’t either,” he said after a moment. “It’s good that you care but sometimes the stuff in her head goes beyond what any of us can comprehend.”

Those were his words but Ty Lee could see behind them, in Zuko’s very own eyes which were so similar to his sister’s.

His eyes said that he was still scared of Azula and he didn’t think it would be the worst thing in the world if she had a weakness.

His eyes still harbored the fantasy that Azula was invincible, that Azula couldn’t hurt like everyone else. 

His eyes had completely glossed over the fact that Ozai had tortured Azula because he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, deal with the implications that Azula wasn’t a perfect child with a perfect childhood while he was the banished and dishonored prince.

“Thank you for your time,” Ty Lee said coldly, getting up. 

“It’s always good to see you Ty Lee,” Zuko said, oblivious to the underlying malice in her tone. His eyes might look like Azula’s but they didn’t see like hers. 

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Ty Lee approached the asylum with trepidation. 

Just looking at the stout, grey building made Ty Lee’s blood boil. She balled up her hands into fists and walked inside. 

Her bright pink outfit was out of place in the dimly lit halls. She walked directly to where she knew the head doctor’s office was. 

It was a place she had spent many hours when they were trying to talk her out of pulling Azula out from her “treatment.”

Ty Lee had been right in the end. The time she spent with Azula was far more beneficial than this sorry excuse for a rehabilitation center ever was. After the first day she took Azula to the palace, Ty Lee hadn’t been back to the asylum, even though she knew that everyone expected her to come running back to abandon Azula within days. 

The deeper into the structure she walked, the more the air around her was punctuated with shrill screams. 

Ty Lee shuddered. The sound wasn’t human. It was a combination of anguish, grief, frustration and a raw outpouring of emotion by a being that wasn’t allowed any other outlet. After she figured out what was wrong with Azula, Ty Lee swore to herself she would become an advocate for every single person here. 

She walked into the doctor’s office without knocking. She was in a meeting with a different man and they both looked up to see Ty Lee enter.

“Lady Ty Lee,” the doctor said. “This is unexpected. I’m currently in a meeting. Why don’t you set up an appointment?”

“I will speak with you now or it’s your job on the line. I’ve already spoken with the Fire Lord about it,” she lied smoothly. 

Azula would have seen the untruth. The doctor just shrugged and waved away her visitor. 

“Can you come back in fifteen,” she asked. The man nodded and left, bowling slightly to Ty Lee on his way out. 

“How can I help you,” the doctor asked as Ty Lee approached her desk. 

“Do you conduct medical examinations of your patients,” Ty Lee asked. 

“Not unless they’re sick or they look like they need one,” the doctor said. 

“Not even when they first come in?”

“This is a mental institution, we focus on our patient's minds.” 

“When the Princess was here, did you ever conduct an examination.”

“That is very unlikely. She was often very aggressive and for a proper examination she would have had to be moved,” the doctor said. 

“You never moved her?” Ty Lee asked. 

“Every time we tried she would lash out,” the doctor said. 

“In half a year, she never once left that cell?”

The doctor didn’t respond but walked over to her file cabinet and pulled out a folder. 

“Read about it for yourself. It would have put all of us in danger to take her anywhere. I don’t fully understand how you’ve managed to keep her in line.”

Ty Lee opened the folder and skimmed the contents. She was too busy reading to focus on the borderline treasonous statement the doctor had made.

“This says that she was fed and cleaned against her will,” Ty Lee read out loud with a pained expression on her face. 

She wanted to cry about everything they put her princess through but she knew she had to stay strong to get answers. 

“That’s true,” the doctor said. 

“How did anyone get close enough to give her a proper shower?”

“At first we had waterbenders come but one time she screamed so loudly she passed out,” the doctor said, her words felt like they were physically stabbing Ty Lee in the chest. 

“So then what did you do?”

“Eventually we found it better to just have her restrained all of the time.”

“Restrained how,” Ty Lee asked.

“Handcuffs.”

“How did she feed herself?”

“We just cuffed one hand and attached the other cuff one to the wall. It’s a hospital not a prison.”

Ty Lee’s eyes opened wide. 

“Which hand,” she whispered. 

The doctor shrugged. 

“I don’t remember,” she said. 

Ty Lee approached the desk and placed her hands on it, getting very close to the doctor. 

“Think,” she said angrily. 

The doctor flinched back, shocked at the peppy girl’s furious demeanor. 

“Can I see the files for a second,” she asked.

Ty Lee shoved them into her hand.

The doctor flipped quickly through her notes until she came to a specific page. 

“Patient was once again firebending in cell. Decided to restrain permanently…” the doctor read. “Cuffed right hand,” she said finally, turning the folder towards Ty Lee. 

Ty Lee took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to remain as calm as possible. She failed in her attempt at self control and in one swift motion she lifted her leg and slammed it down on the table, slitting the hardwood down the middle. 

The doctor jumped up. 

“What in Agni’s name are you doing,” she yelled at Ty Lee. 

“You’re done. This whole place is done,” Ty Lee said quietly before walking out of the room, leaving the doctor stunned.

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Ty Lee sat on Azula’s bed with her face in her hands, sobbing. That was all she could do.

Of course she didn’t use her right hand after it had been chained for over five straight months. It was probably beyond arthritic and brittle and broken down. That was the kind of injury even experienced waterbending healers couldn’t do anything for. 

She didn’t notice that the door had opened and Azula had entered until she felt herself wrapped in her strong, protective arms. 

“What’s wrong Ty,” she murmured into her hair.

Ty Lee just shook her head and continued to cry into Azula’s shirt. She needed to pull herself together but she couldn’t. 

Azula stroked Ty Lee’s back with her left arm while her right hand lay on the bed. 

Ty Lee sat up and very gently picked up her right hand. 

Azula blinked but gave no indication that it bothered her in any way. 

“What’s going on,” Azula asked as Ty Lee cradled her hand. 

“You’re the strongest person I know,” Ty Lee said. 

Azula lifted her hand to brush a tear off of her face. 

“You’re the strongest person that I know,” she whispered. 

This gave Ty Lee the kick she needed to pull herself together. 

“I went to the asylum earlier,” she announced. 

Azula’s soft expression hardened and she tried to pull her hand back but Ty Lee grabbed her elbow. 

“Why would you go there,” Azula said.

“I had to know what they did to you,” Ty Lee said. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Azula said, standing up and yanking her arm away from Ty Lee. She began to pace the room. “What’s done is done.”

“That’s not true. I can help,” Ty Lee said. 

“You keep saying that but you have no idea what you’re talking about,” Azula yelled. 

“I do know what I’m talking about!” Ty Lee said, matching Azula’s volume and tone. “You think I’m so stupid I don’t see what’s going on under all of this,” Ty Lee said waving her hand at Azula. “I know you ‘Zula. I know when something is wrong.” 

“Some things can’t be fixed. I’m just trying to-”

“You shouldn’t just move past it,” Ty Lee yelled, getting closer and closer. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I can fix it.”

“How can you fix it if you don’t even know what it is,” Azula challenged, standing her ground. 

Ty Lee darted her hand out and grabbed Azula’s elbow again, careful not to catch it too low on the arm. 

“I know your wrist is damaged,” she said, causing Azula’s eyes to widen. “I know you think it’s beyond repair and you’ve switched to doing everything with the other hand.”

She dropped her hold to Azula’s fingers and she pulled her hand into her chest. 

“It is beyond repair,” Azula said with venom in her voice. “I’ve consulted every scroll, every healer, I even spoke indirectly with that godforsaken water tribe peasant. There is nothing to be done.” 

“This is penance for my crimes,” she added, her voice breaking. 

“No,” Ty Lee whispered, pulling Azula into a hug. 

Azula buried her face into Ty Lee’s shoulder. 

“This is not penance for your crimes. No one should be crippled for the rest of their life because they did bad things as a kid. Even if they were really terrible things.”

“They wanted to break me,” Azula whispered. “But they couldn’t. I’m still strong. I can still do everything.”

“You don’t have to be like that with me. It is not weak to be vulnerable. It is not weak to ask for help.”

“I told you,” Azula said, pulling away and drying her eyes. “It’s beyond repair.”

“I know you think that,” Ty Lee said. 

“What is that supposed to mean,” Azula said, narrowing her eyes. 

“Will you let me try something,” Ty Lee asked. 

“Try what?”

Ty Lee walked over to the desk and picked up a diagram. There was a detailed drawing of a person with red lines running through her. 

“This is a map of chi flow in a person. When we were younger I learned how to block it. Recently, I’ve learned how to redirect it. I think I can manipulate the chi in your body to provide your right wrist with extra support. It’s not physiological healing but it will function the same way. You won’t feel extra pain, you’ll be able to use it, and you can build up muscle around the region so that eventually it can support itself,” she said. 

Azula looked at the drawing. 

“How did you come up with this,” Azula asked.

“I consulted a few scrolls myself,” Ty Lee said. “Please let me try,” she begged. 

“Is it permanent?”

“Not in the beginning. At first I can do it every hour and then a few times a day and then a few times a week and so forth. Eventually your body will learn how to help itself. Every person’s body wants to be in equilibrium, I’m just teaching yours a new way to get there.”

Azula thought and Ty Lee saw the ideas running through her eyes. She saw skepticism and reluctance but she also saw a spark of hope, reignited after Azula herself had bitterly squashed it.

“Can you please try,” Azula whispered, holding out her hand. 

“I’m going to need more than that,” Ty Lee said. “Undress and lie down,” she instructed. 

Azula did what she was told. 

Ty Lee walked around her and observed her body, stopping on the right side. 

“There’s just one thing I don’t understand,” she said. 

“What,” Azula asked. 

“Where is the scar? Handcuffs leave nasty scars,” Ty Lee said, remembering her own.

“On the day you finally took me out of that place they brought in a healer who cut into my wrists and removed the scar tissue so that it could be re healed properly,” Azula said. “If you look really close there are probably two thin lines.”

Ty Lee doubled over in shock.

“They carved you up,” she said loudly. “Were you anesthetized?”

Azula chuckled. 

“What do you think?”

Ty Lee balled up her fists again. 

“If I hadn’t already smashed that doctor’s desk I would smash it ten times over right now,” she said, fuming. “That woman has no right to call herself a doctor. She’s a butcher!”

“Ty, please focus on what’s happening here right now,” Azula said, bringing Ty Lee’s attention back down to her. 

“Right,” Ty Lee said. “This is going to feel weird but not painful.” 

Azula nodded and Ty Lee launched into her work. 

She pressed and adjusted all of the pressure points in Azula’s body. She dragged her fingers in some places and rubbed circles into others. Moving from her stomach area, Ty Lee traced her lines up into Azula’s shoulder and down to her wrist.

To Azula it felt like something was actually flowing inside her. The turbulent fire which usually ran freely through her veins was channeled and focused, just like it felt when she was bending, but this time someone was bending for her. 

When Ty Lee finished and sat back, Azula sat up and moved her wrist. 

For almost a year her hand had hurt just swinging by her side. It was unimaginable pain just to make her palm face her. Even bending had been painful. Now, her wrist moved smoothly. She turned it back and forth, experimenting. 

“So, how is it,” Ty Lee asked, grinning at Azula’s amazed expression. 

There was pure joy in her eyes that Ty Lee hadn’t seen in so long. 

Flipping her hand up Azula tried to summon a proper fireball, the likes of which she never thought her right hand would make again. 

She concentrated on the fire in her veins, as usual but the combination of the new flow and the old one unintentionally amplified her bending.

Instead of making a controlled blue flame, a pillar of fire that was brilliant gold and white filled the space from Azula’s hand to the ceiling. It was the same color as her eyes and the light reflecting in them was stunning.

“Woah,” Ty Lee said quietly. “How did you do that?”

Azula turned to Ty Lee grinning, all her emotions were on her face, none of them hidden. 

“You did this Ty,” she said. “Thank you.”

She threw herself across the room into Ty Lee’s arms and hugged her hard, with both hands.


End file.
